It’s time to visit Kokkola! I am participating in an exhibition called 5 muijaa at the K.H.Renlund Museum. The exhibition is open from September 26th to November 29th. I have on display three large abstract paintings that have previously been on display at the Finlayson Art Area exhibition in the summer of 2019.
Curator Veikko Halmetoja describes my works at the exhibition as follows: Emmi Kallio (b. 1981) paints using the movement of the whole body. The expressive imprint of the painting is almost abstract, but the titles of the works give a hint of the subjects and starting points of the works. The color masses dried to film-like surfaces are strongly three-dimensional.
The artists are: Maija Härkki, Emmi Kallio, Ninni Luhtasaari, Marjo Talvensaari and Hanna Viitala. I have known Ninni Luhtasaari and her works since we were art students and have always admired her art. I got acquainted with Maija Härkki’s production at the Tampere Art Museum’s ITE art exhibition Miälentilat in the winter of 2017-2018 and immediately fell in love. 5 muijaa exhibition is giving me a chance to get to know the colorful and detailed worlds of Marjo Talvensaari and Hanna Viitala, which makes me very happy!
The exhibition is described on the museum’s website as follows:
The 5 muijaa exhibition is an independent sequel to the 5 äijää exhibition seen last autumn. Curator Veikko Halmetoja has built an ensemble that presents five different contemporary artists. Two of them are self-taught and three have art education. One of the artists who has received art education needs special support for their work.
All the artists in the exhibition are women, but the traditional feminine aesthetics cannot be found in the exhibition. Even works on femininity and corporeality have a roughness and an edge.
The works in the exhibition are combined with a strong use of color and a narrative approach. There are stories in the works with absurd features, myths and also a touch of melancholy.
– I want the exhibition to question expectations about the elegance of contemporary art by showing how expressiveness is ultimately more important than harmony, says curator Halmetoja. The purpose of the exhibition is to invite the public to think about how ITE art is positioned in the field of contemporary art and how the works of ITE artists and artists with an art education can be brought into a fruitful dialogue
5 muijaa 26.9.-29.11.2020
K.H.Renlund museum/ITE-museum, Pitkäsillankatu 28, Kokkola. Open: Tue-Sun 11-16, Thu 11-18.
emmikallioartist 
emmijkallio@gmail.com 
+358 50 379 1466